Guide to Mining

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Introduction to Mining

For a job that is primarily out in space, mining is a relatively safe, even boring, occupation. Still, the entire station is depending on you to bring back those all-important phoron and minerals. Just follow a few guidelines here to keep yourself from becoming lost in the mines. Depending on your luck with mob spawns, mining can range from a nuisance threat level to high likelihood of death.

The Mining Dock, containing the shuttle to the Mining Outpost, is located just below the Cargo Office.

The Equipment

The following is a complete list of mining equipment:

File:Mining Hardsuit.png Mining Hardsuit or voidsuit and helmet: Used so you can mine with impunity on the airless, cold, resource-rich planetoid.
File:BreathMask.png Breath Mask and Oxygen Tank: So you can have oxygen when mining. Get an O2 tank from the tank dispenser, and wear it on your suit storage slot.
File:MGlasses.png Material Scanners: Lets you see where the ore is through the rock.
Mining Tools: For tunneling through everything. Place this on your belt; it saves room. Alternatively, you can get various drills and other tools from science. These will dig faster, and may have other advantages.
File:Shovel.png Shovel: For gathering sand. You can stick this in your backpack, or just not bother with it and trust the drill technicians to bring in any sand the station may need.
File:Lantern.png Lantern: For seeing in the dark. Put one in your pocket. Or just use your suit helmet.
Ore Satchel: For carrying ore without using an ore box, and holds 25 ore nuggets. Get at least one of these and make sure the bag is set to "all on tile" (the default setting). Use in conjunction with an ore crate; hold the satchel and drag the crate. (Newbie tip: This does not work like a backpack. Hold it in your hand and click the ore with that hand to pick it up.)
File:Forensic0-old.png Ore Detector: Used for finding out what types of ore are nearby, so you can decide where best to set up the drill. Make sure you hold still while scanning, or you won't get any output.
File:OreCrate.png Ore Crate: Used for carrying huge amounts of ore. While a satchel can only hold 25 nuggets, this can hold 1000. Use your satchel on the box to empty it into the box. To unload it, place the box in the unloading machine's input slot or right-click the box and choose the unload option. Drag this around with you. Can be loaded into a Ripley mech.

Gear that will be very handy, but not included:

Crowbar: To remove the power cell from the drill. Also handy in case you come back from the mines to a power outage.
Screwdriver: Needed to open the maintenance hatch on the drills. Also generally handy.
Wrench: To secure the drill parts together.
Multitool: Used for cracking the code on the abandoned crates that are occasionally found buried out on the asteroid.
Ripley: These mechs are awesome at mining. A Ripley equipped with a drill and with an ore box loaded up (using the Hydraulic Clamp) mines three squares at a time and automatically picks up any ore gained from the squares. Upgrading it with a diamond drill will let you drill through reinforced walls, etc., but will not actually speed up the mining time.
File:PhoronBomb.png Mining charges: A devastating bomb you can request from science which will destroy rock and dig up ore in a large radius. Use in combination with the ore detector.
File:APPpistol.png Anti-particle projector pistol: A fairly powerful antimatter gun which only works in vacuum. Can be ordered through a belt miner crate.

Old-school Mining

Before you embark on a mining adventure, it is highly advised that you obtain a proper mining hardsuit, material scanners, an ore satchel, and a mining drill. All you need to do is walk around and thanks to the goggles you will be able to see any ore within the walls. Click on the wall with the drill in your hand to start digging! When you have a gathering of ore beside you, click on your ore satchel to pick up any ore in an extended radius by you. Once full, stash the ores in a ore box by clicking on it with the satchel in your hand. If you are holding a pick in your inactive hand, you can bump into the rock wall to start mining it, and you can mine as many as three tiles at a time.

Mining Tools

Your major source for tools, other than your drill, will be Research & Development. The better you keep them supplied, the better their research goes and the more likely it is they'll be able to make you high-level tools. Occasionally you'll also find old mining sheds in the asteroid, which you can break into (by digging through or dismantling walls), and which may or may not contain something useful or interesting. Among the possibilities are better mining tools.

From slowest to fastest:

Drill: Your basic drill. Slow, but you can get it right away.
Advanced mining drill: Get this from Research. It can be made without any special materials from the asteroid, so if they're on the ball you may start out the shift with one.
Silver pickaxe: Occasionally found on the asteroid. As fast as an advanced mining drill, and makes no metallurgic sense.
Sonic Jackhammer: Get this from Research. Twice as fast as the basic drill, this jackhammer requires silver from the asteroid.
Golden pickaxe: Occasionally found on the asteroid. As fast as a sonic jackhammer, and makes no metallurgic sense.
Plasma cutter: Made at Research. As fast as the sonic jackhammer, but smaller and also cuts through walls.
Borg drill: The drill you start off with if you're a mining cyborg. It's faster than a plasma cutter but not as fast as a diamond tool.
Diamond pickaxe: Can occasionally be found on the asteroid. Twice as fast as the plasma cutter.
Diamond Drill: The fastest digging tool out there. Research can make you one, but it takes diamond and high-level research.

Ripley APLU 101

If Robotics is kind (insert: functioning), odds are one of the first creations from their lab will be a Ripley APLU for Mining. The machine is typically outfitted with a drill and a hydraulic clamp. Although a good Roboticist will quickly explain the features when asked, the Ripley does offer external lighting, life support, and various user-control security measures. To access the APLU's menu, click on the "Exosuit Interface" tab followed by "View Stats." To select your active tool, click on the name under "Equipment." An underline means it is not active. To load a box into the Ripley, click on the box while facing it with your hydraulic clamp active. To mine, walk into the rock wall with your drill active.

Drill 101

For most drill functions, you will need a crowbar, wrench, and a screwdriver. At time of writing, the drill is found in three parts - A mining drill head and two mining drill braces. In order to set the drill up, drag all three pieces to the drill site. The mining station has two drills available for use.

To set up the drill, place the two braces beside the drill head, and if necessary, turn them so the arms face the drill. Click on the braces with a wrench in your hand to secure them in place. To turn the drill on, click on the drill.

As the drill is powered by a power cell, the occasional change is required. To change, click on the drill head with a screwdriver in your hand. Click on the drill afterwards to remove the power cell. Science can upgrade the drill with bigger power cells.

To empty the drill, place an ore box beside it. Click "Unload Drill" under the "Objects" tab.

If using mining charges, simply find a suitable place to drill away from outpost structures to set the charge. If using a timer, announce setting the charge over public radio, set the timer, place the charge, and clear the area. If using a signaler, set the charge, clear the area, announce you've placed the charge (preferably with a countdown), then detonate the charge. Ore will be left exposed over a wide area to gather with a mining satchel and ore box.

Furnace 101

There are two points where the furnace can be loaded - One is on the port side of the furnace, immediately beside the belt lever inside the camp. The other is the conveyor belt found starboard, outside the camp. Although both can unload crates automatically, the outside belt is set to have any miner unload the crates themselves. The furnace is operated from inside the station. You can produce multiple products at once, but smelting or compressing something that has no corresponding product will produce useless slag.

The Ores

Wall	Smelted	Compressed	Coin	Door	Name	Uses
	Iron	None	None	Door	Hematite	For use in steelmaking.
		Sandstone	None		Sand	For making glass, which has a plethora of station applications.
		None			Native gold	For making various electronics.
		None			Native silver	Making mechs and for material research.
	None				Phoron	The reason you're here.
	None				Diamond	For making mech parts, among other industrial uses.
		None	Coin	Door	Pitchblende	For various radioactive tasks.
		None	None	None	Carbon	For use in steelmaking and plastics.
	Platinum	Osmium	None	None	Platinum	For making osmium or selling to Centcomm via Cargo.
None	Tritium	MHydrogen	None	None	Hydrogen	For making tritium fuel or metallic hydrogen for shipping.
	None		None	None	Recrystallized Carbon	Hard and pretty. Used for tables and counters
	None		None	None	Verdantite	For making advanced power manipulation deceives.
		None	Coin	Door	Lead	For making radiation-resistant technology. Do not consume

The Alloys

Raw Ores	Name	Uses
	Steel	For use in all kinds of tasks around the station.
	Plasteel	An alloy of hematite, platinum and coal, for reinforced tables and reinforced walls, as well as Mech.
	Durasteel	Incredibly tough and also reflective. The inner walls of the AI core are made of this. Reflects Lasers
----------	Borosilicate glass	Used in engineering, for high strength windows in locations such as the super matter engine.

Mining Vendor Rewards

10 - 1 Marker Beacon - A small, stationary light source you can place anywhere. It needs no external power, but is somewhat dim. Can change light into a varaiety of options.
100 - 10 Marker Beacons - Ten for the price of Ten!
300 - 30 Marker Beacons - No discount for mass purchase.
125 - Whiskey - The 'Special Reserve', one of the better Whiskey around.
125 - Absinthe -The Jailbreaker is a open source alcohol.
150 - Cigar - Cigar, Single.
200 - Soap - Smells of Capitalism.
900 - Laser Pointer - Point in Style. Do not point at eyes.
750 - Geiger Counter - Tktktk. Useless, except if it warns you, then it is a lifesaver.
300 - Plush Toy - It's very cute.
200 - Umbrella - Can stop rain and hail, but beware of wind.
500 - Point Transfer Card - Exactly what it says on the tin. If you want to share points, use this.
500 - Fishing Net - For catching fish alive. But they die outside of water.
1000 - Titanium Fishing Rod - High performance fishing. Be carefull where you point the thing!
10000 - Industrial Hardsuit - Control Module - Description.
800 - Industrial Hardsuit - Plasma Cutter - Description.
5000 - Industrial Hardsuit - Drill - Description.
1000 - Industrial Hardsuit - Ore Scanner - Description.
1250 - Industrial Hardsuit - Advanced Optics - Description.
1250 - Industrial Hardsuit - Maneuvering Jets - Description.
2500 - Hardsuit - Intelligence Storage - Description.
32000 - Hardsuit - Smoke Bomb Deployer - Description.
3000 - Industrial Equipment - Phoron Bore - Designed as a fast tunneling-tool by Grayson, its production got stopped once terrorist got ahold of it to tear down steel walls in great speed. Requires Phoron, a capacitor and a industrial-sized power cell to operate.
500 - Industrial Equipment - Sheet-Snatcher - A ore-bag for processed ores.
500 - Digital Tablet - Standard - Description.
1000 - Digital Tablet - Advanced - Description.
500 - Fine Excavation Kit - Chisels - For the nerds from Xenoarcheologie. Chances are you dig out something that can kill you...
125 - Fine Excavation Kit - Measuring Tape - Chisels helper.
375 - Fine Excavation Kit - Hand Pick - Mainly for Archeologist, it is a small, slow pick.
1500 - Explosive Excavation Kit - Plastic Charge - A mining explosive. It is not as strong as a respective charge using phoron, but you also need no scientist to operate it. For mining only, NT trusts you on that!
500 - Injector (L) - Glucose - A hypoinjector filled with glucose, used for critically malnourished patients and voidsuited workers.
500 - Injector (L) - Panacea - This one has three chemicals, one of them is an antibiotic spaceacillin, the other is a extreme radiationt treatment, arithrazine, and the other is Ryetalyn, a genetic treament kind of chemical should you get hit with radiation and you become blind, or deaf, or something like that. Genetic abnormalities get corrected to base line.
500 - Injector (L) - Trauma - Bicaridine is a medication for treating abrasion, open wounds and stuff like that. A sufficent dosis would even help with internal bleeding, to degree.
1000 - Nanopaste Tube - For all prosthetic repair needs.
400 - Defense Equipment - Phase Pistol - Phase Weapons are using special energy-projectiles more effective against wildlife, and with wildlife, we mean giant spiders. This one is smaller then the explorers equipment, as pistols tend to be.
100 - Defense Equipment - Smoke Bomb - SMOKE BOMB! Vanishing not included. Breaking sightline can confuse drones and wildlife and may save your life.
1000 - Defense Equipment - Razor Drone Deployer - Description.
1500 - Defense Equipment - Sentry Drone Deployer - Description.
500 - Defense Equipment - Steel Machete - Small things are hard to hit with a pistol, the blade has the advantage that you do not run out of ammo when wildly swinging it around.

Shipping the Ores

One half of of the main reason why the NSC Northern Star exists is to mine phoron to send back to Central. Although phoron is always in demand with Medical and Science, by shipping phoron back to Central you receive an abundance of cargo points.

Guide to Mining

Contents

Introduction to Mining

The Equipment